Safety pen needle assemblies are known in the prior art for shielding a used needle post-injection. Such assemblies may be generally classified as “passive” or “active”. A passive device is typically considered to be one where shielding may be achieved without requiring additional steps beyond that required to conduct an injection. In contrast, an active device is typically considered to be one where shielding requires one or more additional steps beyond that required to conduct an injection, such as, for example, triggering a spring-fired shield.
In addition, shielding is most commonly utilized with the distal, patient end of the needle. Shielding has been also provided for the proximal, non-patient end of the needle and has been provided on the same device for both the distal and proximal ends of the needle post-injection. U.S. Pat. No. 7,540,858 to DiBiasi and U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2011/0178473 A1 to Richards et al., both to the assignee herein, show passive dual end shielding safety pen needle assemblies where both the distal and proximal ends of the needle may be shielded passively post-injection.